Yearly Goals

It is New Year's Day. Happy New Year!

I thought this would be a good time to think about my goals for the year. I actually began thinking of lifetime goals but I don't like that idea just because I don't see the point. Isn't everyone's goal for their lifetime the same more or less-have a positive impact on the world?

So then I went for a walk this morning with Maddy (the dog) and thought of all the things I wanted to accomplish sometime in the near future but they are pretty boring, like "Clean out the closet." Naturally, I want to do these things but it is putting me to sleep just thinking about it right now. A more interesting task might be cleaning the smell of cat piss in the dining room.

So I am presenting a list of things I want to do within the year. I divided my goals into categories and are listed according to their importance in my life.

Relationships: My relationships with my family and friends are the most important to me. Lets face it, when I am on my deathbed, I won't be thinking about the number of essays I graded in the course of a year!

Good goals are specific and measurable. Mine are specific and fairly measurable:
1) 2 times a month date night with my husband (That should be fun!)
2) Spend a minimum of fifteen minutes of uninterrupted time with Oliver a day. It sounds like I don't spend much time with him. I do. The key here is the word "uninterrupted." That means he gets my undivided attention for a full fifteen minutes. No matter how tired I am after school I cannot fall asleep on his bed while he plays trains.
3) I must entertain or go out with friends at least once every other month. I would say "every month," but I play BUNCO and there simply are not enough weekends in a month to do all the dating and entertaining. Occasionally you need a weekend to chill out.

Professional: I had to put this second because it is the source of finance and without it, I cannot eat. It also gives me some self-confidence. You can't quite put a price tag on that.
1) See some kind of Tustin High game or function once a month. I have other professional goals but they just aren't yearly goals. They are more like monthly or weekly in nature. Like grading essays. I have to grade 40 essays by Sunday night. I can divide the work up like fifteen essays a day. But I have so much of that kind of work to do, it would be too hard to make yearly goals like that-I am not that good with numbers.As far as my goal of seeing a THS game or function is concerned, I think it is important to show the students you are interested in what they do outside of class. It has a subtle positive influence in the class.

Finance: I only have one goal. I just want to pay off all our credit card debt. It isn't too bad. This is an attainable goal but it will also require budgeting. Yuck!

Personal: I have a lot of personal goals. And as I look at all the goals before it, I wonder at myself. What a selfless martyr I am! Why am I putting myself last? Actually, everything is personal isn't it? So I can live with my saintly state.
1) I am already doing this but maintaining a healthy weight and exercise. I am 5'10" and weigh 146. Not too bad but the key here the word "maintain."
2) I am already a blood donor, but would like to donate more often-four times per year.
3) Brush the cat's teeth. We adopted a dog in July and poor Bonnie's teeth have suffered.  We also don't play with her as much. Whenever she tries to walk down the hallway from our bedroom, the dog growls and chases her back to her bedroom prison. Brushing her teeth would allow me to spend more time with her and make her next vet appointment more successful (the vet will praise my attentiveness). I don't know how brushing her teeth will help with the dog. I should also point out that a year ago she had dental issues and I was told I need to brush her teeth. I did do it, but have slacked a lot.

Good goals should be attainable. I can only hope these are attainable.

Cheers!

Like a Plastic Bag

Much of my life direction has been determined by the blowing of the wind-like a plastic bag. I have made life- altering decisions simply based on what was happening in my life at the time. Not based on what I envisioned for my future or what ultimately would make the most sense. For example, my career choice of being a teacher was originally based on the fact that I came home after living in England and Ireland for over a year, and I wanted desperately to stay in Europe so I entered a post graduate program at Cal State Fullerton to study TESOL. This would allow me to teach English to speakers of other languages (thus TESOL) all over the world. I invested a year into the certificate program rather than the Master's program (so I could finish one semester sooner) in order to find a job overseas. Then I met a boy (fateful error) and then my career goal was to get a teacher's credential. So I stayed here in California.

Okay. Now I have to say that I don't regret what ultimately happened with my career-I have been a high school teacher now for about twelve or thirteen years. It has given me a great deal of independence and self-confidence. I am not a "natural" teacher, but I have grown into being a good teacher. I only say that because I have heard from former students that tell me that I inspired or motivated them. So without that, I would probably feel like a big loser.  Also, my training in TESOL has helped me a great deal with many of my students who come from families where English is not spoken at home.

My point is that I sometimes wish that I had set some goals for myself rather than altering my direction on a whim. I mean really examining what I want from life and then determining what would be the best course of action. So my plan for this blog is to set some goals for myself-daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and lifetime goals. Writing this blog will hopefully keep me a bit more accountable than writing a list on a real estate notepad.

It is good to be like a plastic bag sometimes instead of being a slave to a list. But I have had almost a lifetime being the plastic bag. I am going to experiment with a list now. Just for a year. I am too much of a free-spirited hippie in my soul to be able to do this for too long.

Good Night. Peace, man.